Digital ineQuality in the EU Through the Prism of EU Member States’ Strategies and Their Position in International Rankings

This article analyzes the spatial aspects of the digital inequality in the EU and its impact on the competitiveness of its members. The object of the study is the strategic planning documents of the EU countries in the context of the digital inclusion/inclusion stimulation agenda. The subject of the research is the digital inequality of the EU countries through the prism of their positions in the international ratings of digitalization and competitiveness. The aim of the study is to assess the relationship between the target indicators of digitalization level in the national strategies of the EU countries (in the aspect of reducing the digital divide between countries) and their competitiveness, which is assessed through the positions of countries in the international rankings of the World Economic Forum and the Institute for Management Development. The objectives of the study included the development of criteria and approaches for the analysis of strategic planning documents of EU countries; analysis of digital transformation strategies and economic recovery and resilience plans of EU countries for the place of the agenda to combat the digital divide / stimulate digital equality, as well as comparing the obtained evaluations of strategies with international benchmarks of competitiveness and digital transformation. The results of the study showed that the digital divide agenda has the highest priority in Ireland, Luxembourg and France. In addition, the author’s classification of the digital competitiveness of the EU countries, considering the policies to promote digital equality, was formed, according to which the most competitive countries in terms of digitalization are Denmark, the Netherlands and Ireland, and the least competitive are Slovakia, Hungary and Croatia. Thus, the hypothesis was confirmed: the more competitive EU countries prioritize the agenda of combating the digital divide more than the “catching up” EU members in terms of competitiveness. Moreover, the four groups of countries in the EU identified according to the classification confirm the idea of imbalances within the EU along the north-west-south-east lines, with the exceptions being Austria, Portugal and Estonia.